What is India’s Obsession With Fair Skin? | OBSESSIONS

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:08]Welcome to Mumbai, India, where Bollywood movies sell dreams, glamour, and fair skin.

[00:00:16]>> [music] >> In a land where most people have dark complexions, Indian society is obsessed with looking fair.

[00:00:29]I'm Jason Godfrey, and my mission is to explore just how deep-rooted this cultural obsession is.

[00:00:52]All across India, people come in all shades of skin [music] tones, from light to dusky to black.

[00:00:58]But the one thing that many Indians, rich or poor, have in common is a desire for lighter skin.

[00:01:04]With the caste system that has associated lighter skin with power, having fair skin symbolizes beauty and superiority.

[00:01:12]>> [music] >> And today, the aspirations of the masses are packaged in solutions that everyone can afford.

[00:01:17]>> [music] >> I want to see what you got. Nivea for men.

[00:01:22]Intense intensive fairness. All in one fairness. Anti-spots whitening.

[00:01:27]Triple whitening. Triple. When double or single just won't do. Triple whitening.

[00:01:33]Skin lightning. 24-karat gold bleach.

[00:01:36]Effective fairness cream.

[00:01:38]Hey, you are not allowed to take a video, please. Oh, really? Yeah.

[00:01:43]Lightning, brightening, whitening, illuminate. You name it, they've got it.

[00:01:48]Fairness creams are a huge market worth half a billion US dollars and growing.

[00:01:54]They say these things are so popular that 60% of all beauty products in India have some form of whitening agent in it.

[00:02:01]I mean, even Shah Rukh Khan is endorsing a skin whitening product.

[00:02:07]And he's not the only one.

[00:02:09]In this city of dreams, many Bollywood stars have lent their faces to products that blatantly promise a better life if you have fair skin.

[00:02:18]With happiness, success, and beauty all packaged into a neat little bottle, it's not surprising that people get sucked into the whole skin whitening craze.

[00:02:29]>> [music] >> As far as skin whitening creams, have you ever used a Fair and Lovely?

[00:02:34]Yeah, I used so many times Fair and Lovely I used and Fair and Handsome.

[00:02:38]>> Why did you use it?

[00:02:40]Because I seen the advertisement and they're looking saying advertisement, if you use this product, you will be going means improve your whiteness. Is [music] it important for you if if your children have fair skin?

[00:02:55]Fair skin and all this anti item, if they want, they can use. No problem.

[00:03:02]So, it's not just the women [music] who are doing it. In fact, the sales of men's fairness creams are increasing by 40% every year. That's miles ahead of any other product in the [music] market.

[00:03:15]Hey.

[00:03:16]How's it going, man? How are you?

[00:03:18]Thanks thanks for meeting me here, Nigel. Same, yeah. So, the umbrella, it's not raining. Uh well, you got to protect yourself from the sun. Really?

[00:03:26]I've been into acting now for quite some time, and when you're actually doing front screen work, you need to maintain your complexion. For me, I can't get out in the day from 10:00 to 5:00. Sun is too harsh. You can actually feel it. And of course, you can see the effect once you [music] get back home and when you're standing in front of the mirror, you'll be like, who is this? Okay, is this me? No, it's not me.

[00:03:49]That entire section right there. That's going to help us fight the war. Exactly.

[00:03:54]>> I think it's a war you can't win.

[00:03:56]>> [laughter] >> You could try.

[00:03:58]You're not going to become fair.

[00:04:01]With many of Bollywood stars looking fair and radiant, the standard for India's beauty seems to have been set by the industry.

[00:04:08]And the odds are stacked against aspiring actors like Nigel, who tells me that darker skinned actors only get to play minor roles or the bad guys.

[00:04:17]Still, he's not giving up. You know, there was this experiment [music] done years back. There were a couple of white kids, brown kids, and black kids.

[00:04:26]In front of them, there was a basket full of black dolls and white dolls.

[00:04:32]The irony is that even the black kids went and picked up the white dolls.

[00:04:37]They all were kids below the age of three. Mhm. So, now, they don't have an understanding of what is black, what is white. But even they got drawn towards the white doll in our subconscious mind, of course. You know, there is this thing for white and black.

[00:04:51]It does exist.

[00:04:57]>> [music] [music] >> That afternoon, as I wander into a toy store, I find that even the Indian Barbie and Ken dolls are fairer [music] than the average Indian.

[00:05:13]Among the best-selling dolls is star actress Katrina [music] Kaif, who's of Indian-English descent.

[00:05:19]And speaking of Bollywood idols, I meet the skin doctor to the stars, Dr. Pai, who fills me in on India's skin obsession.

[00:05:27]>> [music] >> We are completely obsessed with wanting to get fairer and fairer. The grass on the other side is always greener. So, then we want to have light-colored eyes, thanks to contact lenses. [music] Today, 60% of our treatment is all to do with acne, the pimples, and uh 40% is the skin lightening, because I told you we are obsessed with the skin whitening and the anti-aging. Let's go.

[00:05:51]>> We'll try that. Yeah, come.

[00:05:53]Dr. Pai doesn't offer to whiten my skin because, you know, I don't need it.

[00:05:57]But she does give me a hydration treatment to combat the effects of Mumbai's sun.

[00:06:03]Do you think that it's a functional if you're fairer? Is it you have a better chance of getting a job in India? Mhm.

[00:06:08]Yes. Whether it's a girl or whether it's a man, too, which you would be which would be hard to believe. When the kid is born, the first thing they say first they say check the gender of the child, male or female. The next, fair or is he dark? So, from from the moment that he is born, it's it's about color.

[00:06:26]>> [music] >> Girls, when they are about to get into college after school, because they have a lot of activities like swimming and all, so we say enjoy your sport, grow well, expose yourself to sunlight. But once they want to enter college, they're a little conscious, and so that is the time we might do [music] some treatments on them to give them the confidence. And then later on, of course, in the marriage age, when you when they're going for their job, [music] it is a must must in India.

[00:06:52]But not everyone is wild about having lighter skin.

[00:06:55]>> [music] >> Some people feel that skin whitening is actually pretty demeaning. People like Heena, a model who tells me that she's had trouble getting work because of her skin tone.

[00:07:05]What are the casting directors here looking for? Most probably they're looking look for fair girls, tall, slim.

[00:07:13]I got everything, but I I don't have fair color. That's it.

[00:07:17]You're not that You're fair You're pretty fair. I mean Now I turn fair because I started using many products. Before I was little tan.

[00:07:27]So, every time I used to get >> [music] >> ditched by my coordinator. They used to call me on set. And then they used to return me, you know, okay, you sorry, you're not [music] got selected because you're tan and all. So, I have to face many problem. Then after I realized, okay, yeah, color matters. So, you know, I took the decision to work on it. So, I went to many, you know, my mama used to order many products from TV channels and all, www. dot I have to face many problem because of that.

[00:07:59]Heena seems to feel that most people in India prefer light skin to dark skin, but just how true is this? I've got a picture of dark skin Heena, and I've got a picture of light skin Heena. I'm going to hit the streets and figure out which one people like more.

[00:08:11]>> [music] >> We're casting for a commercial, and it's for drink commercial. We just want to know who you think would be better. Uh girl on the left or girl on the right?

[00:08:19]>> Right. Right.

[00:08:20]The other one. Girl on the right. Girl on the right. Okay, so left.

[00:08:24]Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Right.

[00:08:27]Girl on the left or girl on the right?

[00:08:28]Right.

[00:08:29]Right.

[00:08:30]Right. Why is the girl on the right the the one you guys picked? She's fair. I like fair.

[00:08:36]The results for the poll are in, and people overwhelmingly picked lighter skin Heena over darker skin Heena. Now, nobody actually said, you know, they like the lighter skin version because it was light skinned. People said things like the light skin picture was more fashionable, more beautiful, just more attractive. Now, later on today, Heena has a very important casting for a television commercial. We've set up an appointment for her here at this salon.

[00:09:00]We're going to try to get her skin lightened and see if this improves her chances at getting the commercial.

[00:09:11]Hello again.

[00:09:12]Hello. Hi. What are the trends as far as looks? What do people want? I think it's more about uh looking international, like uh I think it's some kind of obsession the British have left have gone, but you know, we still obsessed when we look at a magazine and we see how flawless models outside are. I think we somehow relate that great skin and you know, flawless beauty to fairness. A lot of people still don't realize that, you know, the minute you have a great skin, you know, you can do wonders with that, and it's just not about looking white. [music] Whitening products used to be mostly associated with middle-class Indians living in the city.

[00:09:55]But thanks to the increased awareness and availability of affordable skin whitening products throughout India's rural areas, that's no longer the case.

[00:10:03]With India's skin whitening industry booming at a rate of 25% a year, the craze has gone far beyond the [music] regular cosmetic shops in the mall.

[00:10:11]I'm at a market near Bandra Station.

[00:10:13]I've heard on the street level here you can find homemade skin whitening concoctions you cannot find anywhere else. I'm going to look for them now.

[00:10:27]Hey, I'm looking for uh skin whitening skin whitening creams, lotions, whatever you got.

[00:10:31]>> Do you have any special kind of brand you're looking for?

[00:10:34]>> No, I just want to I'm just curious to see what you have. For the Fair and Lovely, this is 10 rupees. 10 rupees?

[00:10:40]Yeah, same this is 10. Okay, so these are all roughly about uh 20 cents US for the sachets.

[00:10:47]The skin whitening kit, it looks like you can make a cake with it. How much is this?

[00:10:51]>> this will cost you 1,000 rupees. 1,000 rupees? We have some product like skin whitening.

[00:10:57]Okay. Uh like we prepare ourselves.

[00:11:00]You make your skin whitening cream?

[00:11:01]Yeah, we make our skin whitening.

[00:11:03]It gives 100% result for skin whitening.

[00:11:05]Yeah.

[00:11:09]>> [music] >> Yeah, I've got my tiny little jar of homemade skin whitening cream.

[00:11:15]>> [music] >> Now, the shopkeeper won't tell me what's in it, but he says 100% guaranteed results. So, I want to know what is in this tiny [music] little jar.

[00:11:23]I think I'm going to go try to get some help from a dermatologist.

[00:11:27]Since I've been in India, I'm seeing tons [music] of these whitening lotions and creams. And do these things actually work? I believe that the fairness creams are not bad.

[00:11:36]If they are manufactured scientifically, they're manufactured, they're they've been monitored on their side effects, then they are good. In India, we have a lot of unauthorized sector. The manufacturing is done in a small shanty place without any monitoring on the ingredients what you are using. I got this from a shopkeeper at a market. He said that he makes it and it 100% guaranteed whitening results. The first thing you see there's no label. Yeah.

[00:12:07]Okay, that is the worst thing to happen.

[00:12:08]The manufacture date is not written. Who has manufactured is not written. What are the ingredients which are there which has not been written. And look at it. It's dry and it is yellow in color.

[00:12:19]Unless they have put something inside.

[00:12:20][music] No, it was white before. White before?

[00:12:23]Then it is worse. That means the ingredient has changed the color.

[00:12:27]The material is unstable.

[00:12:29]>> [music] >> And it would be extremely harmful.

[00:12:34]I learned that there are proven ways to get lighter, but many come with risks.

[00:12:39]>> [music] >> Chemical applications like hydroquinone come with side effects that can damage the skin permanently, while other lightning creams may contain toxic substances like mercury.

[00:12:49]But still, many choose to get lighter no matter what the adverse effects may [music] be.

[00:12:55]India's obsession with fair skin is actually a phenomena that goes way back.

[00:13:00]In fact, sociologist Dr. Waghmare tells me that ancient Indian society first began favoring fair skin thousands of years ago.

[00:13:10]The obsession with whiteness is a very old one. It's in fact traced to to the whole the question of caste and and the making of caste in India.

[00:13:20]Like for instance, there is something called a Brahmin caste. Okay. Now, what is Brahmin caste mean? Brahmins are largely into ritual rituals about purity and enlightenment knowledge. So, the color that is associated with them is is about white, right? They they are supposed to be fair and white, Mhm.

[00:13:37]And on the other extreme of the Brahmins are the lower Shudras. [music] You know, Shudras are supposed to be lowest caste. They are supposed to be dark and not so good looking, you know.

[00:13:46]The caste system goes back a long ways.

[00:13:48]Um is it is it losing its influence in any way or is it is it becoming stronger? Is it maintaining? How's The idea of color and color discrimination is also an old one in one sense. It's linked to caste.

[00:13:59]But it's coming in newer forms, right?

[00:14:01]Through whiteness creams, right?

[00:14:03]Similarly, caste is reconfiguring in newer forms, right? For instance, despite all the cosmopolitan nature of Bombay, you'd hardly see a lot of intercaste marriages here, right? There are there hardly any intercaste marriages. The focus and and the emphasis on marrying within caste remains fundamental to the institution of sustaining caste.

[00:14:24]Fair skin has long been associated with power and superiority, whether with the light-skinned heroes of ancient scriptures and folk tales or the British people who once colonized the country.

[00:14:34]>> [music] >> The problem of identifying the beautiful or understanding who beautiful is is is [music] coming more discriminatory, I would say. And the geographic spread of this ideas of fair as beautiful and solving the problem of being dark and ugly through creams, you know, it's spreading vast and and the time is really fast. No fairness cream can make you white in in 4 weeks, right? Go around 4 weeks.

[00:14:59]So, it's quite shocking for us that none of the consumer kind of monitoring panels in India should be banning them.

[00:15:06]You know, you are giving false promises.

[00:15:08]It's not going to work.

[00:15:14]Now, I'm even more curious to find out how strongly these influences from the past still prevail today.

[00:15:21]I'm in Dharavi, the second largest slum in Asia to meet Seema, a woman who suffered problems of discrimination and even marital problems due to her skin tone.

[00:15:31]Hey, Seema. Hi, Justin.

[00:15:32]>> Nice to meet you. I understand that you have some experiences sort of a obsession almost in India with being fair. Would you would you agree with that? I got married to a Gujarati family. So, when I went to them after marriage, they bring colors for the food for like dinner or lunch. So, I went to one of my relative for lunch. So, one lady came in front of my entire in-laws and she said, "You got this bootni to got married?"

[00:15:55]Bootni means ghost, a dark female like.

[00:15:58]So, they used to call me black and white color giving. How did it make you feel when you're there and she's calling you this name? I felt very bad. From that time I realized, you know, I need to have some fair complexion.

[00:16:10]>> [music] >> Determined to improve her complexion, Seema turned to various treatments including trying homemade remedies and training as a beautician.

[00:16:23]Oh, so this is where you get your beauty treatments done.

[00:16:26]>> Yes.

[00:16:28]What's the most popular treatment during wedding season? Bleach facial. Mhm. We use that. Bleach, what is what is bleach? Uh bleach is you know what? For example, if I have gone out lots, I have a black skin now. If I apply a bleach for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever skin which has become dark from sunshine uh sun, it will get a whitish color.

[00:16:49]>> [music] >> Seema confesses that her skin tone hasn't really changed in spite of all the treatments she's had. But she's happy, although being [music] nagged about her skin color eventually played a part in ending her first marriage.

[00:17:02]>> [music] >> Do you prefer that your skin tone light like this or or darker?

[00:17:06]That one. Like lighter? Why do you like your skin lighter like this? I like it like that.

[00:17:12]But what why is that?

[00:17:14]I like it like that.

[00:17:15]>> [laughter] >> Why? Why? No?

[00:17:19]I'm just just asking. Just curious.

[00:17:21]Huh?

[00:17:23]She looks fair, no? The complexion shows fairness. Why do you think uh Indian people like to be fairer?

[00:17:34]>> [music] >> I don't I don't like this color. My director likes this color. But but I see your point. I know what you mean. I mean, what's your Everyone's preference, right? It's your own.

[00:17:52]>> [music] >> Arranged marriages are a common tradition in Indian culture dating back to 500 BC.

[00:18:02]Today, they account for the majority of marriages in India. And even among modern matchmakers, skin choice reigns supreme.

[00:18:12]How important is it to have a fair complexion when finding that special someone? I'm going to go talk to a matchmaker to try and find out.

[00:18:18]What are people looking for in mates?

[00:18:21]Essentially, the boys, they have a very very simple requirement. One of the key requirements for the boys is the girl has to be drop-dead gorgeous. What's beautiful? That kind of depends from person to person. So, over a period when we start sending them matches, we what we also do is we also ask them for the reason of rejection. So, if I was to send you say for example 10 matches, potential girls who you can look at for getting married, and you say I like only these five and I don't like the other five. So, we kind of probe into details to why, you know, you don't like this.

[00:18:49]Is it easier to match the fair girls? If I was to send, you know, three fair girls to a guy and two dark girls to a guy, he'll select the one which is fair first. So, it's fairly important for a woman then to be fair to get matched. Is it important for a guy to be fair? The girl is already looking at, you know, the age, they're looking at the height, they're looking at you know, education, which is a very important criteria, the family background, how big is his house, what kind of lifestyle he leads. So, there are already too many complicated parameters that the girl needs to kind of, you know, tick mark on. And then if they add on a skin tone, it's it's going to only increase their their difficulties. So, the guys have the luxury of sort of picking for skin tone because all they want is a beautiful wife. Absolutely.

[00:19:39]It's time for the moment of truth.

[00:19:41]I [music] can't wait to find out if Heena's new and fairer look will make any difference to her chances of getting the role.

[00:19:51]All right, and action.

[00:21:06]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, action.

[00:22:53]I can't go out in the sun.

[00:22:55]And we can't have any fun.

[00:22:56]>> For the type of product you were casting for today, which was a skin whitening product, who would you normally choose as a casting director? What are you looking for? Well, it's not really my choice. It's the client's choice. So, obviously, they're looking for fresh faces with good complexion, usually fair. So, do you think the entire sort of uh of fairness fair skin being better, is that is that changing? More than 90% of the girls who come into audition are fair, whereas 90% of the population is not, you know, fair. Who are your top three picks for me? My top three uh is Ishita. She's my top pick. Actually, she's got very good features and stuff. And like, it's she's got nice plump cheeks, which kind of looks good for it.

[00:23:39]>> What did you think of Heena? Do you want me to be really honest? I would place her last. She was really bad. What what kind of roles do you think she would she would be good for?

[00:23:47]>> She she'd be good for negative roles.

[00:23:49]Why? Why is that? The image that's already in my head of so many previous, but yes, she's got the the character's called vamp character always. The negative lead is a vamp always usually the girl.

[00:24:04]So, it looks like Heena has struck out again.

[00:24:08]Although she might not have been the best actress for the role, I can't help but feel that being darker than the other girls worked against her.

[00:24:19]So, is this obsession with fair skin in India is it going away anytime soon? It it won't go away soon. I'm that's being very, very positive about it. But I I just hope that that those who are perpetuating it, especially the the the the film industry, the glamour industry, there is a need to appeal to their conscience. There there is an urgent need. It affects the the self-image and self-worth of of most Indians in India.

[00:24:44]So, there is a need for people to get together of those who feel there's a problem and and to voice it.

[00:24:51]Well, it looks like the Cinderella ads of whitening creams are here to stay, along with India's deeply ingrained attitudes about fair skin.

[00:25:00]In spite of the fact that most people here will never attain the fair skin depicted in ads and movies, that's not going to stop anyone from trying.